Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Rameshwaram – Reviving the Sacred Teerthams

As
a fitting and living tribute to Swami Vivekananda in this year of
national celebrations of his 150th birth anniversary, Vivekananda
Kendra-nardep inaugurated the renovation and revival of selected
Teerthams of the holy island of Rameshwaram on January 27th 2013. It was
the day of arrival of Swami Vivekananda to Rameshwaram in 1897, after
his triumphant visit to the West.

Hanuman Kundam is the first teertham where the renovation work is to
be carried out. The Puja was performed at the teertham between 8:00 to
8:45 am. The Puja was attended by the head monks of Sri Ramakrishna
movement, District collector, officials of the Rameshwaram temple,
Vice-President of Vivekananda Kendra and a large number of public. Then the public function was held at Sri Ramakrishna Tapovanam,
Rameshwaram. The public programme started at 9:00 a.m. with the lighting
of the traditional lamp by the dignitaries and a prayer. Swami
Divyananda the secretary of Sri Ramakrishna Tapovanam presided over the
function. Sri. N. Krishnamurthi, senior Kendra worker, gave the welcome address
and explained the importance of the Teerthams – the sacred water
bodies. He enunciated the importance of water, its sanctity as recorded
in our ancient literature and scriptures. He pointed out how water
scarcity is becoming a global issue and can trigger many wars if we
continue to neglect and abuse this important natural resource. Sri. A.Balakrishnan, Vice-President of Vivekananda Kendra gave a talk
on the importance of Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary
celebrations. He pointed out that the sacred water body renovation is
not a singular event to be done and forgotten but it should be a
continuous process to be taken up in a sustained manner. Sri.K.Selvaraj led an inspiring song on Swami Vivekananda – giving the essence of Swamiji’s mission and message.The benedictory speech was given by Swami Kamalathmananda, the Head
of Sri Ramakrishna Mission, Madurai. He declared that we should work in
such a way to make the difference Swami Vivekananda made to the history
of our nation, to be felt globally. The global face of India should be
identified with the dynamic message and figure of Swami Vivekananda. The key note address was delivered by Sri.K.Nandakumar IAS, the
collector of Ramnad district. He described the importance of water in
the protection of the environment. He wanted eco-friendly practices to
become part of the daily life culture. A Valedictory speech was made by
Sri. Selvaraj, executive officer of Rameshwaram temple. He pointed out
how maintaining the sacred water body is very part of our temple culture
and should be venerated as sacredly as the temple and God. Swami Divyananda gave the presiding benedictory address. He
appreciated the Kendra taking up such a mass-oriented environment
conscious activity as a fitting memorial to Swami Vivekananda on his
150th anniversary.